Using apivar strips with supers on

[Etton]

Have taken honey off my hives and most hives are still left with a super on as the BB are full of brood with stores in the super. I plan to use apivar strips later this month, placing 2 in each BB. As I’m not taking more honey off is it ok to leave the supers on (I will nadir later on...it works for me) and use the empty frames next year for honey extraction?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Have taken honey off my hives and most hives are still left with a super on as the BB are full of brood with stores in the super. I plan to use apivar strips later this month, placing 2 in each BB. As I’m not taking more honey off is it ok to leave the supers on (I will nadir later on...it works for me) and use the empty frames next year for honey extraction?

https://www.theapiarist.org/queens-and-amitraz-residues-in-wax/
This article has this info

But what about Apivar (the active ingredient of which is amitraz)?

Since Apivar isn’t wax soluble it would probably be OK to reuse the super … but I qualified this by saying that I don’t reuse them “just to be on the safe side”.

What they don’t tell you about Apivar
This wasn’t really an application of the precautionary principle.

Instead, it reflected a dim memory of some posts I’d read earlier in the year on the Bee-L discussion forum. This is a low volume/high quality forum frequented by scientifically-inclined beekeepers.

It turns out that, although amitraz (the active ingredient in Apivar) is not wax soluble, it’s broken down (hydrolysed) to a formamide and a formamidine.

Read that again … I didn’t write the same word twice

The formamide has no residual activity against mites. In contrast, the formamidine retains miticidal activity and is wax soluble.

But read it all

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Have taken honey off my hives and most hives are still left with a super on as the BB are full of brood with stores in the super. I plan to use apivar strips later this month, placing 2 in each BB. As I’m not taking more honey off is it ok to leave the supers on (I will nadir later on...it works for me) and use the empty frames next year for honey extraction?

Last time I used apivar I wasn't happy with it's efficacy and felt it might be losing its impact. Ok it's a sample of one so statistically insignificant.

 

[thorn]

I went through this last year and emailed the manufacturers. They told me there was no problem doing as you intend.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Last time I used apivar I wasn't happy with it's efficacy and felt it might be losing its impact. Ok it's a sample of one so statistically insignificant.

Pete Little reported quite a bit of resistance last year

 

[Etton]

If as is sensible to treat for varroa this month, whether it’s Apivar, OA or some other treatment then as said at the outset of this posting many hives still have stores in the super and it’s not ideal to treat with supers on. Can either treat later in Sept or remove the super but if BB still full of brood it’s not an option as bees will be short of food. What do others do...or just remove the super and hope they gather more stores. Suppose I could feed, but then another task to do.

 

[drex]

I treat as soon as I take the harvest off. Always enough honey in BB for them. Remember some treatments are temperature dependent and it is good to treat before she starts producing winter bees.

 

[elainemary]

I treated with Apivar last year ( & have used other seasons) followed by OA sublimation in Dec. Varroa counts are very low this year. My sugar shakes have revealed v few mites & sticky boards over the last week from 0 to most were 12 over 7 full days. Beebase calculator estimates mite numbers very low

Just mentioning as I've found Apivar very effective. It needs a longer period - 10 weeks - but it's good if you live in cooler areas as not temperature dependent & if follow instructions and don't leave them in til Spring, personally don't think there is a problem with the product.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If as is sensible to treat for varroa this month, whether it’s Apivar, OA or some other treatment then as said at the outset of this posting many hives still have stores in the super and it’s not ideal to treat with supers on. Can either treat later in Sept or remove the super but if BB still full of brood it’s not an option as bees will be short of food. What do others do...or just remove the super and hope they gather more stores. Suppose I could feed, but then another task to do.

I have one brood that has no stores. I’m leaving them a super fornow and vaping with it on

 

[Hebeegeebee]

If as is sensible to treat for varroa this month, whether it’s Apivar, OA or some other treatment then as said at the outset of this posting many hives still have stores in the super and it’s not ideal to treat with supers on. Can either treat later in Sept or remove the super but if BB still full of brood it’s not an option as bees will be short of food. What do others do...or just remove the super and hope they gather more stores. Suppose I could feed, but then another task to do.

September is too late for winter bees to be varroa free.